The numbers show why Hersey is off to slow start

There are a couple of math teachers on the Hersey boys basketball staff, including veteran coach Don Rowley, an assistant for the Huskies.

And when math teachers are involved, so are numbers.

So when Hersey started the season 1-5, Hersey head coach Austin Scott turned to his math wizards on staff and asked them to go deep into the numbers to help decipher where the Huskies were struggling most.

The answer was obvious early in the research.

Turnovers.

"If you look at our statistics on shooting and field goal percentage and rebounds and assists, the numbers were all good. We were winning so many categories," Scott said. "But the turnovers were a problem for us. It was the one common denominator in which we struggled in all of our losses. We have been plagued by turnovers."

Scott says the Huskies were averaging between 15 to 20 turnovers over their first five losses.

"We were giving away so many possessions," Scott said. "Our success the rest of the way will be determined by how well we take care of the ball."

Scott believes that ball security will improve as his team gains experience. It's not that the Huskies are particularly young this season, but some of the top players, even though they are juniors and seniors, lack varsity experience.

"We start three seniors, but none of them played significant minutes last year," Scott said. "We aren't young in age, but we are young in experience."

Long and lean: So far, it's been a strong transition for Hersey transfer Ethan Roberts, a transfer from Tennessee.

Roberts, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, is already leading the Huskies in scoring and assists, and he scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds in Hersey's recent big win over Palatine.

But speaking of strong, Roberts probably wouldn't mind adding a little more muscle to his frame. The 16-year-old is a long 6-foot-5, but a lean 155 pounds and is trying to add strength in the weight room.

"Ethan is a very gifted athlete and tremendously skilled, one of the most skilled I've seen. He's got tremendous court vision and he's very good with the ball. But he is very skinny," Hersey coach Austin Scott said. "Ethan is getting used to playing here but I think he's had to make some adjustments to the physical play. We're lifting, he's working on it and he'll get there. He just needs to work on his lower body strength to be able to finish (with contact)."

Interestingly, Roberts isn't the only long and lean player on the roster.

"We have a lot of guys like Ethan," Scott said. "We have five guys on our roster who are over 6-feet-5, but who weigh less than 200 pounds. We are very tall and long. We are lifting every day but some of these guys are growing so fast and their weight hasn't caught up to their height yet.

"We've got one guy who was 6-foot-3 just last year and all of a sudden he is now 6-foot-7. We're working in the weight room, but there's going to be a growth process for us."

A new you: Hersey's biggest growth spurt belongs to junior forward Ben Randall. He's the player who went from 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-7 in the span of one year.

"He was on our sophomore team last year at 6-foot-3 and now all of a sudden he's huge and has a 6-foot-9 wingspan," Hersey coach Austin Scott said. "Ben has always been a really, really good athlete, and now with his size, he's one of the most marquee athletes in the area."

Randall was a standout wide receiver for the Hersey football team in the fall, using his size and length to his advantage. Now, he's doing the same thing in basketball. He had 18 points, 8 rebounds and his first dunk in Hersey's big win over Palatine on Monday.

"He's really coming into his own as an athlete," Scott said. "And his skills are catching up to how good he looks coming off the bus."